In the shipment of glass bottles, such as wine bottles, by common carrier or courier, it has been a persistent issue that bottles will typically become damaged or break. Breakage of the bottles may occur when the carton within which the bottles are shipped is dropped or crushed during shipment. Damage to the bottles may be aesthetic, such as abrasion, rubbing, fading, or tearing of labels on the bottles, which is undesirable to the consumer receiving the shipments.
Importantly, shipping cartons and packaging must pass arduous tests before their design is accepted for transit by the carriers. One common test is administered by the International Safe Transportation Association (ISTA) and is designated as “ISTA Test Procedure 3A—Standard.” A copy of the test parameters for this test is provided at the end of this document.
Various solutions have been proposed in the past that have been partially successful in alleviating some of these issues. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,057, which is entitled “Bottle Shipper,” proposes use of four layers of molded pulp fiber used to ship bottles upright. The four layers of trays, which include two sets of two trays each connected at hinges, include generally cylindrical cavities when stacked onto one another such that the bottles placed in the cavities are entirely encased laterally along their lengths by the molded fiber material. Although this solution is at least partially effective in preventing breakage of the bottle, repeated shaking and crushing forces applied to the molded pulp fiber structures during shipment tend to soften and disintegrate the molded pulp fiber tray structures, especially in the area around the midsection of the outer bottles.
An additional example of a previously proposed bottle shipment packaging can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,406, which is entitled “Molded Pulp Fiber Interior Package Cushioning Structures.” This solution proposes a bottle cushioning structure that cushions bottles shipped laying horizontally in the shipping carton. In one disclosed embodiment, the cushioning of the bottles is accomplished in part by providing molded shells that surround each bottle. The molded shells include internally protruding crushable projections that although are effective in substantially limiting shaking of the bottles relative to the cushioning structure during shipment, they typically also contact the bottle along its midsection thus damaging or tearing the bottle's label.
Yet another example of a previously proposed packaging for shipment of bottles is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,582, which is entitled “Shock Absorbing Insulated Shipping Container Especially for Breakable Glass Bottles.” This solution proposes an insulated and shock absorbing insert for a cardboard box. The insert includes a cavity in which bottles are arranged and separated by a filling structure or partition system for separating the glass bottles from one another. An additional insulated body engages and covers a top opening of the insert. As disclosed, the insulated body is formed from injection molded polyurethane. In this arrangement, a conformable material used for the top of the insert surrounds the tops of the bottles placed in the cavity of the insert. A filler structure which forms receptacles accepts the bottles and surrounds them to provide shock absorption in cooperation with the top of the insert. Although this device is effective in avoiding the breakage of bottles carried therein, it accomplishes its function by engaging the lateral surfaces of the bottles, which as described above is generally undesirable insofar as it may cause abrasion, fading or tearing of labels on the bottles.
These and other shortcomings of the prior art can be overcome as provided herein.